Love at First Sight

 

Based on a true story 

I always thought that falling in love at first sight was something that only happened in movies and fairy tales. But then, one day, it happened to me. I met Bennie, and from the moment I laid eyes on him, I knew that I had fallen in love. 

We were at a party, and I was standing across the room, looking around, trying to find someone to talk to. And then, Bennie walked in. He was tall, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes that I couldn't look away from. 

As soon as our eyes met, I felt a jolt of electricity shoot through my body. I had never experienced anything like it before. It was as if time had stopped, and it was just the two of us in the room. 

I knew that I had to talk to him, so I made my way over to where he was standing. We introduced ourselves, and we started talking, and it was like we had known each other our entire lives. We had so much in common, and our conversation flowed effortlessly. 

As the night went on, we continued to talk, and I felt myself falling deeper and deeper in love with him. I didn't want the night to end, but eventually, it was time to go home. 

We exchanged numbers, and we started texting and talking on the phone every day. We went on dates, and every moment I spent with him felt like a fairytale. It was like we were meant to be together. 

I never believed in love at first sight before, but now, I know that it's real. I fell in love with Bennie the moment I saw him, and I will always be grateful for that moment. It's a feeling that I will never forget, and I will cherish it for the rest of my life. 

Georgia

A Boo-Boo on My Knee

 

Little six year olds run. 

Momma said don’t run!

You will fall!

Little six year olds run

Little six year olds fall.

Running on the gravel path,

Falling on the gravel path,

The gravel path between our cottage

And Scheinman’s country store.

Ouch! A red scraped knee!

A big red bruise!

Big red boo boo on my knee!

Momma washed it

Covered it with a red mercurochrome.

Not healing , momma covered it with iodine.

Ouch! Ouch! That brown stuff burns!

Not healing!!

Poppa came for the weekend.

A long trip from the hot city,

A long trip, heavy traffic, 

Rain, thunder and lightening!

Poppa saw my boo boo

Hurried me into the car!

Hurried me through the night 

Windshield back and forth, back and forth!

Heavy rain pounding the the roof!

Hurried me into the hospital 

Emergency room, Montefiore Hospital.

Gangrene had set in!!

Poppa had saved his little girl’s leg.

We left the pain and infection in the hospital,

We left the boo boo in Montefiore Hospital.

Ethyl Haber

"Wake Up from this Sleep"

At 15 years old, I was very interested in all kinds of eastern and existential philosophy.  It seemed like the world was waking up to exploring different cultures (after all it was the late Sixties!!)

I would bring home all sorts of esoteric books and just devour them. Kierkegaard, Niebuhr, Ram Dass, Shah, Tillich, The Bhagavad Gita, Hesse, Skinner…..  I just couldn’t get enough of them. Then I stumbled upon a book entitled “In Search of the Miraculous” by P. D. Ouspensky. The book was about the author’s experiences with mysterious Russian mystic referred in the book as “G”.  The essence of this man’s teaching was that we are all asleep and that we have to wake up and realize we are prisoners of this sleep state. This book stopped me in my tracks. I was pulled into its pages like a moth to a flame. After almost every paragraph, I would be saying to myself, “Yes! yes!!”

Some quotes of Gurdjieff that emphasize that point - 

“In order to awaken, first of all one must realize that one is in a state of sleep. 

“Let us take some event in the life of humanity. For instance, war. There is a war going on at the present moment. What does it signify? It signifies that several millions of sleeping people are trying to destroy several millions of other sleeping people. They would not do this, of course, if they were to wake up. Everything that takes place is owing to this sleep.”

These teachings came from secret esoteric schools in Georgia and Armenia. He referred to this system as “The Work” and that someone engaging in it was “working on oneself”. My own sense was many seemed to be of Sufi origin. Gurdjieff often referred to himself as a dance teacher and spoke of dances he called “The Movements”. He described the dances as a means of non-verbally transmitting this precious knowledge from generation to generation. He presented a seemingly somewhat scientific approach to all of this but this book is written pre-Russian revolution, so what happened to these people?

It was the kind of book where you start highlighting every few lines on every page. All of it made so much sense to me. But who was this “G” character?  And was there an actual school that followed this path? 

As years passed, I became more and more fascinated with this man’s approach. Eventually I figured out that his name was George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff and he had schools that evolved from his teachings even here in America. 

I was so impressed with the book that I bought another one and gave it to a close friend that was formerly a Jesuit priest as a gift. He fell in love with the book and promised that if he ever came across a group that explores this method that he would let me know.

Years later, I received a letter from him telling me that he had found such a group and that they had a farm up in Sussex, NJ and that I should come up and experience it for myself. And that started a 15 year adventure that radically changed my life……

Robert 

The Eve of Gettysburg

 

The Eve of Gettysburg                                                                                

June 30, 1863

Dear Emma,

It is with a heavy heart that I write to you today, cognizant of the fact that the responsibilities that you have been left with are my fault. If our eyes had not met across that dance floor maybe you would have married a more successful suitor. Certainly a man with the $50 to sell his draft notice. The three boys and the farm are too much responsibility for your soft white hands to clutch and cleave into a life.

            We are never told much information and with a lack of facts the weeds of rumor infiltrate the crops, sowing doubt in our minds. A great storm is brewing not in the skies above but on the land. A human storm is approaching. I can feel it in my bones. I have never seen so many Union soldiers in one place. The encampments are very quiet like a field before a storm. It has been said that General Meade is no match for General Robert E. Lee, the great warrior of the Confederacy, if he is truly approaching. His aura hangs over the land like an avenging angel intent on destroying the North.These southern boys fight with such confidence and determination as if they cannot possibly loose and are determined to end up giving us a good thrashing.

            I have to move on so I will say goodbye for now. Please give the boys a hug and let them know that all of you are in my heart and my thoughts constantly and I love all of you more than words will express.Take care of them and yourself.                                                                                          

                                                                                                            Your Loving Husband,

                                                                                                                        Samual

 Jim

A Very Personal Letter to a Friend

 

Dear Emily,

I hope this letter finds you well. I just wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for having you in my life. You have been such an amazing friend to me and I feel truly lucky to have you in my corner.

I want you to know how much I appreciate your presence in my life. You have been there for me during some of my darkest moments, always offering a listening ear and a shoulder to lean on. Your unwavering support and encouragement have helped me through some tough times, and I am so grateful for that.

But it's not just during the tough times that you have been there for me. You have also been there to share in my joys and successes, cheering me on every step of the way. Your positivity and enthusiasm are infectious, and I always feel better after spending time with you.

Your friendship means the world to me, and I can't imagine going through life without you. You are one of the most caring, genuine, and kind-hearted people I have ever met, and I feel so blessed to call you my friend.

Thank you for being you and for everything you do for me. I am so grateful for our friendship, and I look forward to many more happy times together.

With love and appreciation, your friend,

Georgia

Scaring Myself

 

What am I doing here?  How did I wind up with three teenage friends, in the woods of a local park, in the pitch black?

When we were walking on the sidewalk next to the woods, it seemed like a fun thing to do. Leave the sidewalk where the street lamps light up everything and venture into the woods, where the pitch darkness turns everything into something else.

I was shaking inside non-stop so much so that it felt like a group of mariachis were playing inside my stomach.  I was terrified on the inside but tried to act cool on the outside.  My three friends didn’t seem scared but I sure was!

I started remembering a story my sister and her boyfriend told me recently where they were going to walk into the woods at night but then something made them stop in their tracks.  They insisted that they saw the outline of an adult’s stomach lying on the grass, nothing else, just a pink stomach. 

Could they have been right or were the shadows and blackness of the woods at night tricking their eyes and minds? Had somebody just left behind a half of a watermelon on the ground from an afternoon picnic?  They didn’t stick around to figure it out. They were sure it was a person’s stomach cut away from its body.  They ran out of the wooded area and right back to the safety of their homes.

My mind started concentrating on the present again and there I was with my friends who had managed to creep into a darker part of the woods. Trails that were there on the ground to guide us in daylight had now become invisible like a bunch of ghosts hiding in a haunted house.  Invisible paths were playing hide and seek with us in a ghostly way.

We stopped and as I looked up toward the sky.  All I could see were what used to be tree branches but now looked like the long menacing tentacles reaching down to grab all of us and crush us to pulp. Every breath of wind made it seem more and more like those tentacles were bending down lower and lower to grab us.

Then we saw a threatening little man standing off to the side with a machete in his right hand. We stared at him for a minute unable to tell if he was a sinister criminal or not but this was the last straw for all of us. Was this man really just a tree trunk which took on scary shapes in the complete darkness or was a machete being sharpened and ready to use?

We didn’t stay to figure it out. All of us started yelling and screaming while trying to find our way out of those pitch dark woods. We all promised each other that we would never go back in the woods at night. As for me, I never did!

Ellen / Apr 2023

Moonlight Walk

 

The moon was full and bright in the sky, casting an otherworldly glow over the world below. As I stepped out into the night, I was struck by how everything seemed different in the moonlight. The familiar streets and houses took on an eerie, unfamiliar quality, and I felt as though I had stumbled into a dream.

The trees rustled softly in the breeze, their leaves reflecting the silver light of the moon. The shadows they cast were long and twisted, and I found myself jumping at every sound that I heard. As I walked further, I realized that I didn't recognize any of the houses or landmarks that I passed. Even the streets themselves seemed to have shifted and twisted in the moonlight.

I walked on, my heart pounding in my chest, until I came to a small park that I knew well. But in the moonlight, it was transformed into something else entirely. The trees and bushes seemed to have grown taller and wilder, and the pond was murky and shadowed.

I turned to head back home, but found that I couldn't remember which way I had come. The familiar streets and landmarks were all unrecognizable in the moonlight, and I felt disoriented and lost. It was as though the moon had transformed everything, I knew into something new and unfamiliar.

Eventually, I found my way home, my heart still racing from the strange and eerie walk. As I climbed into bed, I couldn't help but feel grateful for the moonlight, which had turned my familiar surroundings into a thrilling and unforgettable adventure.

Georgia